I didn’t expect to find this documentary about the ex-Prime Minister of New Zealand starting out in Boston, Massachusetts, but that’s where it began. My home town. Jacinda Ardern, the said  ex-Prime Minister, moved to the United States for a job as a professor at Harvard University and to raise her daughter in a less hostile environment than the one she left in her home country. Things weren’t always bad for her, but she had her hands full as  the “Prime Minister” in her two terms as leader of the New Zealand labor party which made her the de facto leader of New Zealand.

This film depicts this woman’s life in government dealing with a terrorist attack where 50 were found dead at a mosque. A volcano explosion and the largest pandemic in the world in one hundred years. Not only that, but she was pregnant and birthed a baby girl during her first term in office. With the help of the father of the child, they raised her together while she was running the country. Raising a child in general isn’t easy. Let alone while you’re trying to help hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.  This woman is the kind of woman all others should strive to be like. The entire time, all this was going on she was being recorded for a political diary for future posterity. 

I vaguely heard about the country that had little to no recorded cases of Covid 19 and thought to myself how this was possible. Well, it happened because Jacinda closed the borders of her country. Even when variants popped up and there were violent protests, she once again closed the border. She cared more about saving her people than making all the protesters who didn’t want to take the boosters happy. She was a leader that more world leaders should emulate.  She stood up for what was right and did things she knew would get her in hot water, but she didn’t care. Saving lives , whether it be banning guns or making boosters mandatory , as her main priority. 

A funny aspect of the documentary was when Jacinda went to the United Nation to speak about climate control. She had a run-in with President Elect Donald Trump. The assembly at that meeting laughed at Trump for something absurd that he said during a speech. Reporters asked her about it, and she stuffed it off, but a big whole thing was made about the occasion. She definitely didn’t want to be at odds with Trump, but even she knew at that time he was an idiot.  Other than that, she was considered the best world leader at the time. Even given a title as such. That says a lot when the rest of the world recognizes her that way.

I’ve followed politics in the United States for quite a while now. Politics in Nee Zealand and the United States are very different.  The New Zealand Politics are more akin to Great Britain with the parliament and various parties all fighting for leadership. The times the film showed Jacinda arguing a cause or fighting for her people are similar to the senate and house of representative. She came across very sternly and leadetly even when she was being attacked from across the room. She was thrust into this position when the previous Prime Minister stepped down, and she was elected to replace him at a moment’s notice. Given that situation, she seemed to me as an outsider to be doing a great job during her two terms in office.

I have a soft spot for people who fight against oppression or against negatively. Jacinda was one of those people to me. She fought for her people under tremendous odds. During covid 19 specifically, she fought for a fair minimum wage and to prevent poverty in her country. These are a couple of issues we face in America as well. She seemed to me like someone I would want as president of the United States. Her policies are universal in nature. This documentary showed me what a great leader she was as well as an advocate for the downtrodden and underprivileged.  This was a fantastic film by Michelle Walsh & Lindsey Utz, the directors. They even showed how important the motherly aspects of her life were to her. I hope this is considered one of the best documentaries of the year come awards season.

4 ½

Dan Skip Allen